977.3 

St4j 

1969 


STEVENS 

JAMES  WATSON  WEBB'S  TRIP 
ACROSS  ILLINOIS  IN  1822 


1  I  B  HAHY 

OF  THE 
U  N  IVER.SITY 
Of    ILLINOIS 


97*7.3 
|1H 


H.UIHHS  HISTORICAL  SUAVEY 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign 


http://archive.org/details/jameswatsonwebbsOOstev 


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FRANK  E.  STEUENS 


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GENERAL  JAMES  WATSON  WEBB 


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^ames  Watson  Webb's  Trip 
Across  Illinois  in  1822 

FRANK  E.  STEVENS. 

HE  ride  across  the  bleak  prairies  of  Illinois,  made  in  February,  1822, 
by  James  Watson  Webb,  a  young  lieutenant  then  stationed  at  Fort 
Dearborn,  may  never  reach  the  fame  attained  by  the  ride  of  Paul 
Revere,  in  April,  1775,  because,  perhaps,  no  Longfellow  will  ever 
appear  to  immortalize  it.  Certainly  we  may  never  hope  for  assist- 
ance from  the  academic  historians,  for  the  reason,  so  far  as  the 
record  speaks,  none  of  them  appears  to  know  anything  about  it.  And  so  the 
effort  to  bring  into  notice  a  bit  of  Illinois  history,  quite  as  important  and 
far-reaching  in  consequences  to  the  west  as  Revere's  ride  was  to  the  east, 
must  be  made  by  the  amateur  historian. 

Webb  himself  subsequently  achieved  fame  as  a  public  man,  and  were  it 
not  for  his  modest  printed  narrative  of  this  ride,  it  would  indeed  be  lost  to 
Illinois. 

Born  at  Claverack,  Columbia  County,  New  York,  February  8,  1802,  at  17 
he  entered  the  army  and  was  stationed  in  New  York  harbor.  As  he  says  of 
that  part  of  his  service :  "After  reporting  for  duty — a  boy  of  seventeen — sixty 
days  of  military  duty  in  this  harbor  were  quite  sufficient  to  give  me  a  surfeit 
of  city  garrison  life,  and  to  revive  in  me  the  earliest  promptings  of  my  boy- 
hood— a  desire  to  visit  the  unknown  regions  of  the  great  West;  to  hunt  and 
shoot  where  the  Indian  alone  had  disturbed  the  game;  to  angle  in  the  streams 
where  the  line  of  the  white  man  and  the  disciples  of  the  wily  Walton  tr.id 
never  tempted  their  finny  inhabitants ;  and  to  roam  with  the  aboriginal 
savage,  his  native  forests;  to  see  him  in  his  native  grandeur  and  to  know  him 
as  he  was  and  is,  when  uncontaminated  by  contact  with  that  civilization,  of 
which  he  is  certain  to  imbibe  all  that  is  vicious,  while  it  fails  to  impart  to  him, 
in  return,  any  of  its  blessings." 

In  the  autumn  of  1S19,  Webb  found  himself  in  Detroit,  but  desiring  to 
remove  himself  still  closer  to  Indian  life,  he  secured  a  station  at  Chicago,  in 
the  winter  of  1821-22,  which  made  it  possible  to  make  the  ride  mentioned 
in  the.- .    ,  iges. 

The  inspiration,  which  caused  him  to  reduce  the  adventure  to  paper, 
arose  from  acquaintance  with  an  English  half-pay  officer,  formed  in  1S32. 
This  officer  was  just  as  eager  to  see  Indian  life  in  its  primitive  state  as  Webb 
had  been,  and,  largely  through  Webb's  influence,  the  officer  found  himself 
enabled  to  plunge  into  the  wilderness.  Subsequently  the  officer  reduced  to 
manuscript  form,  a  narrative  of  his  adventures.  Webb  edited,  this  manuscript 
and  attended  to  its  publication  by  Harper  Brothers,  in  1846.  The  book  is 
entitled,  "Altowan,  or  Incidents  of  Life  and  Adventure  in  the  Rocky  Mount- 
ains, b)  an  Amateur  Traveler.  Edited  by  J.  Watson  Webb.  In  two  volumes." 
In  the  dedication  of  this  work,  to  Charles  Fenno  Hoffman,  Webb  men- 

[3] 


tioned  certain  influences  characteristic  of  the  Indian,  which  brought  out  his 
story : 

*  *  *  *  "How  far  the  instincts  of  our  nature,  and  the  senses  of 
hearing,  seeing  ..  smelling,  are  affected,  or  even  changed,  by  civilization,  is 
a  question  which  still  remains  to  be  decided;  and  in  relation  to  which.,  you  and 
I  possess  facts  that  are  not  only  startling  in  themselves,  but  which  warrant  a 
closer  research  on  the  part  of  the  curious  in  such  matters.  I  will  relate  an 
instance,  which  came  under  my  own  observation,  and  which  to  this  day  I 
have  never  been  able  to  explain,  except  on  the  hypothesis  that  the  senses 
given  to  man  in  his  native  state,  being  less  necessary  for  him  in  the  artificial 
life  which  civilization  has  substituted,  they  greatly  degenerate;  and  conse- 
quently, that  the  vision,  the  hearing,  and  the  sense  of  smelling  in  the  Indian 
are  so  much  more  acute  than  in  civilized  man,  that  we  frequently  are  disposed 
to  attribute  to  instinct  what,  properly  speaking,  is  simply  the  habitual 
exercise  of  these  senses,  as  originally  bestowed  by  the  Almighty. 

"In  the  winter  of  1821-22,  I  was  stationed  at  Chicago,  then  about  150 
miles  in  advance  of  the  pioneer  settlers.  All  west  and  north  of  us,  with  the 
exception  of  the  old  French  settlements  at  Green  Bay  and  Prairie  du  Chien, 
was  untrodden  wilderness  -r  trodden  only  by  the  lords  of  the  forest,  and  the 
adventurous  trapper  and  voyageur.  A  short  time  previous,  the  fifth  regiment 
of  infantry,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Snelling,  had  established  itself  on 
the  upper  Mississippi,  at  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony.  Early  in  February,  1822, 
the  principal  chief  of  the  Potawatomies,  one  of  the  most  friendly  tribes  west 
of  Lake  Michigan,  reported  to  the  Indian  agent  (Kinzie)  at  our  post,  that  his 
tribe  had  received  an  invitation  from  the  Sioux  Indians  to  unite  with  them  in 
cutting  off  the  garrison  at  St.  Peter's,  at  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony ;  and.  as 
evidence  of  his  truth,  produced  the  tobacco,  said  to  have  been  sent  to  them 
by  the  Sioux,  and  which  generally  accompanies  such  propositions  for  a  war 
league.  As  no  doubt  was  entertained  of  the  truth  of  this  report,  the  com- 
manding officer  directed  me  (the  adjutant)  to  make  an  arrangement  with 
some  of  the  voyageurs  connected  with  the  Indian  trading  house  near  the  fort, 
to  carry  the  intelligence  to  Fort  Armstrong,  situated  on  Rock  Island,  in  the 
Mississippi,  near  the  mouth  of  Rock  River,  thence  to  be  forwarded  to  Colonel 
Snelling.  They,  however,  refused  all  my  offers,  alleging  that  none  of  them 
had  ever  crossed  the  country  in  the  winter  season,  that  it  was  impracticable, 
etc.,  etc. 

"The  same  love  of  adventure  and  excitement  which  had  induced  me  to 
exchange  a  station  in  this  city  (New  York  F.  E.  S.)  for  Detroit  and  then 
from  an  artillery  into  an  infantry  regiment,  added  to  a  conviction  that  the 
lives  of  a  whole  regiment  of  officers  and  men,  their  wives  and  children,  were 
in  jeopardy,  and  that  it  was  possible  to  avert  the  impending  blow,  induced 
me  to  volunteer  to  be  the  bearer  of  the  intelligence  to  Fort  Armstrong. 

''1  accordingly  took  my  departure,  accompanied  by  a  sergeant,  who  was 

1  ■'!  wodsman,  and  an  Indian,  of  my  own  age.    The  first  two  or  three  days 

days  of  weariness  to  me,  and  of  froliek  and  fun  to  the  Indian;  because 

we  nco      '  rily  traveled  on  foot,  in  consequence  of  the  extreme  severity  of  the 

weather,  with  our  provisions  on  a  pack-horse,  and  a  horse  to  break  the  snow 


and  make  a  trail  in  which  to  walk.  The  actual  suffering  consisted  in  riding 
our  regular  tour;  but  I,  being  'all  unused'  to  travel  through  the  snow  on 
foot,  for  hour  after  hour  consecutively,  was  weary  and  worn  out  when  we 
came  to  bivouac  at  night;  while  the  Indian  was  apparently  as  fresh  as  when 
we  started,  and  cracked  his  jokes  without  mercy,  upon  the  fagged  Che-mo- 
ca-mun  or  'Long  Knife,'  as  they  denominated  all  whites.  I  found,  however — 
as  I  had  been  told  by  those  who  were  learned  in  such  matters — that  endur- 
ance of  the  Indian  bears  no  comparison  with  that  of  the  white  man.  He  will 
start  off  on  a  dog  trot  and  accomplish  his  eighty  or  a  hundred  miles  in  an 
incredible  short  space  of  time;  but  when  he  comes  to  day  after  day  of 
regular  work  and  endurance,  he  soon  begins  to  flag,  and  finally  becomes  worn 
out ;  while  each  succeeding  day  only  inures  the  white  man  to  his  work,  trains 
him  for  further  exertion,  and  the  better  fits  him  for  the  following  day's 
labors.  Thus  it  was  with  my  Indian  and  myself,  and  on  the  evening  of  the 
fourth  day,  I  came  to  camp  fresh  as  when  we  started,  while  the  Indian  came 
in  weary  and  fatigued,  and,  of  course,  it  was  then  my  turn  to  boast  of  the 
endurance  of  the  Che-mo-ca-mun  and  the  effeminacy  of  the   'Nichenawby.' 

"My  instructions  were  to  employ  the  Potawatomie,  as  a  guide  to  the 
Rock  River,  where  the  country  of  the  Winnebagoes  commenced,  and  then 
take  a  Winnebago,  as  a  guide  to  Fort  Armstrong — the  leading  object  being 
so  to  arrange  our  line  of  travel  as  to  avoid  the  prairies,  upon  which  we  would 
necessarily  suffer  from  the  cold.  I  had  been  apprised  that  I  would  find  an  old 
Canadian  voyageur,  residing  with  his  Indian  family,  in  a  trading  hut  on  Rock 
River,  and  it  was  to  him  my  Potawatomie  was  to  guide  me. 

"Toward  evening,  on  the  fifth  day,  we  reached  our  place  of  destination, 
and  old  La  Sailer,  recognizing  us  as  whites  and,  of  course,  from  the  fort, 
intimated  by  signs,  as  he  conducted  us  to  the  loft  of  his  hut,  that  we  were 
to  preserve  a  profound  silence.  All  who  live  in  the  Indian  country  learn  to 
obey  signs,  and  it  is  wonderful  how  soon  we  almost  forget  to  ask  questions. 
I  knew  that  something  was  wrong,  but  it  never  entered  my  head  to  inquire 
what  it  was — Indian-like,  quite  willing  to  bide  my  time,  even  if  the  finger, 
closely  pressed  upon  the  lips  of  the  old  man,  had  not  apprised  me  that  I 
should  get  no  answer  until  it  suited  his  discretion  to  make  a  communication. 

"It  was  nearly  dark,  when  we  were  consigned  to  the  loft  of  the  good,  old 
man,  and  for  three  long  hours  we  saw  him  not.  During  this  period  there  was 
abundant  time  for  meditation  upon  our  position;  when  all  at  once  the  pro- 
found stillness,  which  reigned  in  and  around  the  hut,  was  broken  by  the 
startling  sound  of  a  Winnebago  war  dance  in  our  immediate  vicinity!  This, 
as  you  may  imagine,  was  no  very  agreeable  sound  for  my  sergeant  and  my- 
self, but  it  was  perfectly  horrifying  to  my  Potowatomie;  all  of  which  tribe,  as 
also  their  neighbors,  were  as  much  in  awe  of  a  Winnebago  as  is  a  flying  fish 
of  a  dolphin.  But  all  suspense  has  its  end,  and  at  length  the  war  dance  ceased 
— the  music  of  which,  at  times,  could  only  be  likened  to  the  shrieks  of  the 
damned,  and  then,  again,  partook  of  the  character  of  the  recitative  in  an 
Italian  opera,  until  at  length,  it  died  away  and  all  was  silence. 

"Then  came  old  La  Sailer,  whose  head,  whitened  by  the  snows  of  eighty 
winters,   as   it    showed   itself   through  the  trap  in  the  floor,  was  a  far  more 

[5] 


acce]  table  sight  than  I  could  have  anticipated  it  would  be  when  1  left  the  fort. 
Having  been  informed  who  we  were,  and  my  desire  to  procure  a  Winnebago 
to  guide  me  to  Fort  Armstrong,  he  in  whether  we  had  not  heard  the 

war  dance,  and  if  we  could  conjecture  its  ■  bj  ct !  He  then  proceeded  to  state 
that  two  Winnebagoes,  who  had  been  tried,  and  sentenced  to  be  executed,  for 
the  murder  of  a  soldier  at  Fort  Armstrong,  had  escaped  from  the  jail  at 
Kaskaskia,  and  arrived  on  the  river  a  few  days  previous;  that  in  consequence 
the  whole  nation  was  in  a  state  of  ex  lary  excitement,  and  that  the 

war-dance,  to  which  we  had  listen  -   preparatory  to  the  starting  of  a 

war  party  for  Fort  Armstrong  to  attack  it,  or  destroy  such  of  the  garrison 
as  they  could  meet  with  beyond  its  pa!:-;.  I<  -;  and  that,  of  course,  our  only 
safety  was  in  making  an  early  start  homeward.  I  inquired  whether  I  could 
not  avoid  the  Indians  by  crossing  the  Great  Praiiie,  and  thus  striking  the 
Mississippi  above  the  fort.  He  answered  that,  by  such  a  route,  I  would  cer- 
tainly avoid  the  Indians  until  I  reached  the  vicinity  of  the  Mississippi;  but 
that  we  would  as  certainly  perish  with  the  cold,  as  there  was  no  wood  to 
furnish  a  fire  at  night.    The  mercury  in  the  thermometer,  as  I  well  knew,  had 

!  at  five  degrees  below  zero  when  I  left  the  garrison,  and  it  had  certain- 
ly been  growing  colder  each  day;  and  therefore  I  apparently  acquiesced  in 
his  advice,  and  requested  to  be  called  some  three  hours  before  daylight,  which 
would  give  us  a  fair  start  of  any  pursuing  party,  and  bade  him  good  night. 

"But  the  old  man  doubted  my  intention  to  return  to  the  fort,  and  shortly 
after,  paid  us  another  visit,  accompanied  by  a  very  old  Winnebago,  who 
avowed  himself  the  firm  friend  of  the  whites,  and  proceeded  to  point  out  the 
folly  of  any  attempt  to  proceed  in  my  expedition.  He  inquired  its  purport, 
and  when  I  told  him  it  was  to  visit  a  dying  friend,  he  said  I  had  better  post- 
pone the  meeting  until  after  death,  when  we  would  doubtless  meet  in  the 
Paradise  of  the  white  man!  but,  at  the  same  time,  gave  me  to  understand  that 
he  d  elieve  such  was  the  object  of  my  visit  to  the  banks  of  the  Missis- 

.    Indian-like,  he  sought  to  pry  further  into  my  affairs,  but  expressed  his 

;Ct  .'or  all  who  knew  how  to  keep  to  themselves  their  own  counsels,  and 
the  *  Is  of  their  government.    His  remarks  were  kind  and  in  the  nature 

of  approbation  for  the  past  and  advice  for  the  future,  and  coming  from  such 
a  soui      ,  made  a  lasting  impression. 

"Again  we  were  left  to  ourselves,  and  then  doubtless  I  wished  myself 

in  garrison.     But  to  return,  and  that  too  from  fear,  and  the  object  of 

my  j  unaccomplished,  was  inevitable  disgrace.      But    what    was    still 

'.  was  the  consequence  to  otl  ers   of  my  return.     I  could  not 

but    think    there    was  an  understanding  between  the  Winnebagoes  and  the 

:.  and  if  there  had  lingered  in  my  mi;  ibt  of  the  story  of  the  Pot- 

ief,  that  doubt  was  now  at  an  end  and,  of  course,  a  sense  of  duty 

to  ;  nt  of  officers  and  men,  their  wives  and   children,  was  as 

-•quiring  my  advance,  as  wa    *'      :"■  ar  of  disgrace  in  forbidding 

With  two  such  motives   for  a  right  decision,  there  could  be  no 

com  It  required  hk»re  c  -    to  n  treat  than  to  advance, 

d  upon  the  latier. 

"Some  bom-.-,  before  dawn  of  day,  we  started,  apparently  for  garrison; 

[6]  *■        '     • 


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but  once  out  of  sight  of  old  La  Sailer  we  knocked  the  shoes  off  our  horses,  to 
avoid  being  traced  by  them  in  crossing  the  river,  threw  away  our  caps,  tore 
up  a  blanket  to  make  the  hood  worn  by  Indians  in  extreme  cold  weather,  and 
took  a  course  by  the  stars,  directly  west.  I  should  have  mentioned  that  my 
Indian,  now  having  become  valueless,  I  urged  his  return  to  his  own  tribe. 
But  neither  persuasion  nor  threats  could  induce  him  to  go.  In  every  bush  he 
imagined  he  saw  a  Winnebago,  and  he  dared  not  return  alone.  I  then  urged, 
what  was  quite  apparent  would  be  the  fact,  that  he  could  not  sustain  the 
forced  march,  to  which  we  were  destined,  and  upon  which  our  safety  depend- 
ed.   But  it  was  all  in  vain,  and  I  was  compelled  to  take  him  with  us. 

"And  now,  after  this  long  introduction,  I  come  to  the  point  of  my  story. 
The  second  day,  after  leaving  Rock  River,  was  the  coldest  I  ever  experienced. 
The  ground  was  covered  with  about  eight  inches  of  snow  and  no  one  who  has 
not  experienced  it,  can  well  imagine  with  what  piercing  effect  the  wind  passes 
over  those  boundless  fields  of  snow,  unbroken  by  a  single  tree.  On  that  day, 
at  Fort  Armstrong,  sixty  miles  south  of  me,  and  sheltered  by  woods,  I  after- 
ward ascertained,  the  mercury  never  rose  above  fourteen  degrees  below 
zero!  How  cold  it  was  where  we  were,  it  is  impossible  to  conjecture;  but  I 
know  that  when  my  Indian  failed  in  strength  and  absolutely  refused  to  take 
his  turn  in  riding  the  horse  to  break  a  trail  through  the  snow,  I  rode  his  tour 
of  ten  minutes,  in  addition  to  my  own,  and  when  I  got  down,  discovered 
that  my  feet,  face,  hands  and  knees  were  frozen! 

"To  encamp  without  wood  was  an  impossibility.  The  country  is  a  high, 
rolling  prairie,  and  from  a  naked  hill,  about  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  I 
discovered  an  island  of  woods,  lying  southwest  of  us  and  distant  some  ten 
miles.  When  the  Indian  saw  the  distance  yet  to  travel,  the  hope  with  which 
I  had  all  along  cheered  him  failed,  and  he  announced  his  utter  inability  to 
proceed.  To  place  him  on  our  horse  was  certain  death  to  him ;  to  remain  with 
him  in  the  prairie,  without  wood  and  consequently  without  fire,  was  as  cer- 
tain death  to  all ;  yet  he  begged  most  piteously  that  we  would  not  abandon 
him!  He  was  but  a  boy,  and,  although  even  at  that  age,  he  might  meet  death 
at  the  stake  with  all  an  Indian's  coolness,  he  could  not  make  up  his  mind  to  a 
death  from  fatigue  and  cold.  I  reasoned  with  him  upon  the  folly  of  all  pei 
ing,  in  an  idle  attempt  to  save  one,  pointed  out  the  wood  to  him  and  promised 
him  to  build  a  large  fire  to  guide  him  to  us  as  soon  as  we  reached  it,  and,  with 
a  heavy  heart,  took  leave  of  him  with  but  little  expectation  of  seeing  him 
again. 

"Night  set  in  shortly  after  we  separated,  and  not  a  solitary  star  was 
visible;  but  our  course  to  the  wood  lying  south  west,  and  the  wind 
blowing  cuttingly  severe  from  the  north  west,  there  was  but  little  difficulty  in 
keeping  our  way.  In  about  an  hour  the  wind  lulled  and  then  we  felt  the  awk- 
wardness of  our  position.  On  a  trackless  prairie,  covered  with  snow,  with 
trail,  moon,  star  or  wood — what  evidence  did  we  possess  that  we  were  g»  ing 
in  the  direction  we  desired?  The  reflection  was  not  a  comfortabl  i  one,  but 
we  knew  the  worst  of  our  position.  We  could  but  wander  at  random  all  night 
on  the  prairie  and  find  our  way  to  shelter  in  the  morning;  hut  not  so  our 

[7] 


poor  Indian;  and  villi  the  lulling-  of  the  wind,  the  last  gleam  of  hope 
for  him  was  necessarily  abandoned. 

"This  calm  may  have  continued  nearly  two  hours,  when  again  the  wind 
rose;  but  instead  of  blowing  upon  our  right  cheeks  it  struck  us  upon  the  left. 
That  the  weather  had  not  moderated,  we  had  too  much  reason  to  believe,  and 
consequently  we  came  to  a  halt,  lighted  our  spunk,  held  it  to  my  pocket  com- 
pass-— and,  behold,  we  were  traveling  north  east,  or  directly  from,  instead 
of  to, -our  haven  of  rest!  This  created  no  surprise,  though,  of  course,  we 
were  not  particularly  pleased  to  discover  that  we  had  lost  so  much  time  on 
such  a  night,  in  the  wilderness  of  prairie  with  which  we  were  surrounded;  but 
life  in  the  wilderness  is  a  life  of  action.  We  promptly  resumed  our  march  in 
the  proper  direction,  with  the  wind  a  certain  guide,  if  it  did  not  again  lull. 
And  now  comes  the  wonder.  In  less  than  half  an  hour,  we  overtook  our  In- 
dian, traveling  leisurely,  in  the  same  direction  as  ourselves!  Never  before 
nor  since,  have  I  been  so  surprised.  My  salutation  was,  'Where  are  you  go- 
ing?' He  answered,  'To  the  woods.'  'And  how  do  you  know  that  you  are 
going  to  the  woods?'  He  could  not  tell  how,  or  why,  he  knew  he  was  right, 
but  he  was  certain — had  not  a  doubt.  I  then  undertook  to  question  him  more 
closely,  but  it  was  of  no  avail.  He  knew  not  why  it  was,  but  he  was  as  per- 
fectly certain  that  he  was  traveling  in  the  right  direction,  as  if  it  had  been 
broad  daylight,  and  the  wood  directly  in  view.  He  had  traveled  slow,  was 
somewhat  refreshed,  and  we  all  traveled  leisurely  until  about  ten  o'clock  at 
night,  when  we  reached  our  anxiously  sought  wood,  built  a  fire,  scraped  away 
the  snow  for  a  couch  and  slept,  as  only  travelers  under  such  circumstances 
can  sleep. 

"Now  comes  the  question,  and  it  is  one  which  has  bothered  me  for  24 
years — how  did  the  Indian  avoid  losing  his  way?  Why  was  he  confident  that 
he  was  going  directly  to  his  place  of  destination?  My  sergeant,  an  old 
woodsman,  and  myself  had  made  use  of  all  our  experience,  judgment  and  in- 
tellects, to  keep  in  the  right  direction,  but  had  failed,  had  wandered,  no  one 
can  tell  where,  and  yet  this  child  of  the  forest,  without  a  trail,  in  a  dark  night 
— without  a  moon,  star  or  wind  to  guide  him,  and  quite  ten  miles  from  the 
wood — had  never  for  a  moment  doubted  that  he  was  in  the  right  direction; 
in  short  he  knew  that  he  was,  and  the  result  demonstrated  his  knowledge. 
Whence  came  this  knowledge?  Was  it  instinct?  or  was  he  indebted  for  his 
knowledge  and  safety  to  his  keener  sense  of  smelling? 

"You  once  said  to  me,  that  a  critical  examination  of  Indian  skulls  had  led 
a  friend  to  believe  that  the  orifice,  through  which  the  olfractory  nerve  pr.sses, 
i.-  larger  than  in  the  white  man  ;  that  the  eye  is  set  differently,  so  that  he  may 
see  farther  behind  him  than  civilized  man,  and  that  the  passage  for  admitting 
sound  into  I       head,  i.-  larger.    If  this  be  so,  the  secret  of  my  Indian's  knowl- 

e  i.^  at  once  developed;  and  we  cannot  but  be  struck  by  the  wonderful  and 
inscrutable  provisions  of  a  kind  Providence  for  all  His  creatures,  in  whatever 
on  in  life  they  may  be  placed.  That  man,  in  a  civilized  state,  does  not 
r<  quiri  o  perfect  a  use  of  his  scum-  ■.,  as  in  a  state  of  nature,  is  very  evident, 
and,  e  Almighty  may  have  formed  us  all  alike,  it  is  not  impossible 

thai   civil  has  lo  t — because  of  his  artificial  state,  no  longer  neces- 

V  [8] 


sary  for  his  safety— much  of  his  delicacy  of  smell,  power  of  vision,  and  acute- 
ness  of  hearing;  while  the  Indian,  dependent  upon  those  senses  for  safety  and 
subsistence,  has  not  only  retained  them  in  all  their  original  perfection,  but  by 
constant  exercise,  increased  their  powers  beyond  our  comprehension  of 
what  is  possible.  Such,  at  least,  is  the  theory  I  have  adopted  to  explain  the 
incident  related. 

"In  regard  to  the  result  of  my  expedition,  I  ought  to  add,  that  most  prov- 
identially, we  reached  Fort  Armstrong  without  meeting  with  an  Indian,  or 
approaching  sufficiently  near  to  one  to  be  recognized  as  whites,  although  we 
passed  for  miles  (unconsciously)  through  woods  filled  with  them,  and  were 
informed,  on  reaching  the  fort,  that  for  some  weeks,  the  main  land  had  not 
been  visited,  unless  accompanied  by  a  strong  guard.  My  dispatches  were 
forwarded  to  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  by  soldiers,  who  traveled  all  the  way 
on  the  frozen  Mississippi,  and  fortunately,  when  they  were  received,  a 
number  of  Sioux  chiefs  were  about  the  garrison.  They  were  immediately 
placed  in  the  guardhouse,  and  others  sent  for,  and  served  in  like  manner,  and 
none  of  them  was  released  until  after  the  opening  of  spring,  and  satisfactory 
proofs,  that  the  proposed  rising  had  been  finally  abandoned  as  equally 
dangerous  and  hopeless." 

For  locating  Webb's  trip  homeward,  we  are  indebted  to  Blanchard's  his- 
torical map,  and  he,  in  turn,  was  indebted  to  a  correspondence  carried  on 
with  Webb,  before  that  person  died.  In  this  map  we  find  that  Webb  traveled 
directly  south  from  P'ort  Armstrong,  until  he  reached  a  point  in  Mercer 
county,  due  west  from  Hennepin.  From  this  point  he  went  easterly  to  Hen- 
nepin. As  there  was  no  Hennepin  in  1822,  I  was  at  a  loss  to  learn  why  Hen- 
nepin was  marked,  and  why  the  mark  ended  there. 

In  desperation,  I  picked  up  the  autobiography  of  Gurdon  S.  Hubbard, 
arranged  by  his  nephew,  Henry  E.  Hamilton,  and  found,  on  page  44,  these 
words :  "Opposite  the  mouth  of  Bureau  River,  and  about  a  mile  above  the 
present  site  of  the  town  of  Hennepin,  our  first  trading  post  was  located,  and 
placed  in  charge  of  Mr.  Beebeau,  who,  for  many  years,  had  been  a  trader  in 
that  region."  And  I  am  inclined  to  believe  Mr.  Hubbard  was  there  when 
Webb  reached  the  place  on  his  return  trip,  because,  on  page  116,  Hubbard 
says :  "About  ten  days  after  reaching  the  above  settlement,  I  received  orders 
from  Mr.  Deschamps,  to  vacate  my  post  and  join  the  brigade  at  Beason's 
Post."    Afterwards,  in  April,  the  trip  for  Mackinaw  was  begun. 

On  page  110,  he  mentions  a  turkey  hunt  at  Bureau  Post.  Later  an  Indian 
tried  to  murder  him,  (page  113).  Page  111,  he  had  just  finished  his  house,  and 
in  April  (page  116)  he  left  the  post  for  Mackinaw.  That  would  have  foun  1 
him  at  Bureau  Post,  from  November,  1821,  to  April,  1S22.  I  am  sure.  He 
went  north,  and  the  next  date  met  (on  page  125)  is  March.  1823. 

From  Bureau  Post,  Webb  followed  the  well-beaten  trail  up  the  Illinois 
and  Des  Plaines  rivers,  and  reached  Chicago  duly. 

For  Webb's  brief  excursion  into  a  psychological  side  line,  we,  of  north- 
ern Illinois,  should  be  thankful.  ;  '        ugh  disappointed  that  lie  did  not  go  into 
\  life  at  Fort  Dearborn  more  extensively.    Just  a  few  pages  about  that  period 
would  be  of  inestimable  value  to  us  today;  wherefore  to  know  more  of  him 

[9] 


and  his  career,  we  must  turn  to  others,  who  in  writing  of  him,  give  his  Fort 
Dearborn  life  attention  so  scant  as  to  appear  almost  spiteful.  At  17  he  ran 
awaj  from  the  home  of  his  brother-in-law  and  guardian,  at  Cooperstown,  X. 
Y.,  ana  went  to  New  York  City,  secured  from  Governor  Clinton,  a  letter  to 
Secretary  of  War,  John  C.  Calhoun,  to  the  effect  that  he  was  a  son  of  Gen. 
I  B.  Webb,  and  that  Clinton  knew  him  to  be  of  good  character.  Armed 
with  the  letter,  which  Clinton  protest*  ]  would  do  the  youngster  more  harm 
than  good,  he  went  to  Washington,  and  after,  what  at  first  threatened  to  be 
a  flat  refusal  to  give  him  a  commission  in  the  army,  by  sheer  force  of  hfs 
boyish  manliness,  Calhoun  gave  him  the  commission,  as  a  lieutenant,  in  the 
fourth  battalion  of  Artillery,  with  orders  to  report  at  Governor's  Island,  in 
New  York  Harbor.  In  August,  1819,  he  reported  for  duty  there,  and  there 
he  remained  until  fall,  when  ambitious  to  plunge  into  the  wilderness  and 
learn  at  first  hand  what  he  might  about  the  Indians  and  his  country  in  that 
wilderness  state,  he  secured  a  transfer  to  Detroit,  and  to  the  Infantry.  Af- 
terwards, in  June,  1S21,  Webb  was  sent  to  Fort  Dearborn,  the  place  he  most 
coveted,  then  commanded  by. Colonel  John  Mc  Neil.  Here  Webb  was  ap- 
pointed adjutant  of  the  post.  In  the  last  days  of  January,  1822,  Mr.  Kinzie, 
the  Indian  agent,  reported  to  the  commandant  that  a  friendly  Pottawatomie 
chief  had  brought  to  him  a  piece  of  tobacco,  sent  the  latter  by  the  Sioux  Indi- 
ans, with  an  invitation  to  his  tribe  to  join  them  in  cutting  off  the  fifth  regi- 
ment of  Infantry,  then  stationed  at  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  and  occupying 
only  temporary  huts,  but  in  the  full  reliance  of  friendly  feelings  from  the 
Sioux.  It  was  well  known  that  Col.  Snelling,  and  his  command,  with  their 
women  and  children,  were  in  a  very  exposed  condition,  and  there  was  no 
doubt  of  the  accuracy  of  Kinzie's  information,  and  the  gravest  anxiety  pre- 
vailed in  Chicago  for  their  safety.  The  adjutant,  Webb,  was  called  and  order- 
ed to  find  a  person  willing  to  carry  a  letter.  In  the  dead  of  winter,  and  180 
miles  from  any  inhabitants,  Col.  McNeil  expressed  his  unwillingness  to  order 
anyone  on  so  perilous  a  trip,  and  with  his  own  weak  garrison,  lie  feared  to 

with  any  considerable  numbers.  With  the  possibility  of  an  abandonment 
of  t:  .taking,  Webb  volunteered,  and  made  the  trip.    The  revised  (by 

Webb)  biography  of  Webb,  informs  us  that  he  reached  Ft.  Armstrong  on  the 
evening  of  the  fourth  day,  which  differs  from  Webb's  statements.  This  bio- 
graphy sets  the  date  of  his  early  morning  departure  from  La  Sailer's  cabin  at 
two  o'clock  of  the  eighth  of  February,  his  20th  birthday,  and  eight  o'clock, 
a:-  the  hour  when  the  Winnebagoes  started  to  capture  his  party.  It  was  three 
..hen  he  crossed  Rock  River.  Major  Burbank  commanded  at  Fort 
'  he  was  profuse  in  his  praxes  of  the  braver)  of  Webb. 

Other   authorities    tell    us    that    after  Webb's  departure,  La  Sallier  (so 

here)  sent  word  by  a  friendly  Indian  to  Ft.  Dearborn,  that  Webb  had 

i  to  the  prairie  and  was  pursued  by  a  war  parly  of  Winneba- 

|  Id  not  !;•;!  to  overtake  and  d<  stroy  the  party.    Acting  upon  this 

.    the    next    monthly    post    bulletin  contained   this  notation,  that 

ergeant  had  b  i  by  the  Indians."     In  1825,  he  was 

made  Ad.     ant  of  the  Third  regiment.    In  September,  1827,  he  resigned  his 

commission,  and  in  December,  of  the  same  year,  he  became  the  proprietor 

[10] 


.*!     '"',   , 


A-. 


'■-zZt^_  ,<£rt^?£— > 


UNIVERSITY  OF 
ILLINOIS  LIBRARY 


JOS1AH  SNELLING 


FORT  SNELLING 


and  editor  of  the  New  York  Morning  Courier.  In  1829,  he  bought  the 
Enquirer,  and  he  consolidated  the  two  papers  under  the  name  Courier-En- 
quirer. In  the  newspaper  field  he  was  as  daring  as  he  had  been  in  the  army, 
and  he  was  progressive  to  the  point  of  being  called  reckless.  Desiring  to  get 
his  European  news  before  his  rivals,  he  looked  with  contempt  on  the  row 
boats  collecting  it  before  the  ships  docked,  so  he  hired  a  fast  schooner,  the 
Eclipse,  and  sent  it,  with  smaller  boats,  after  the  news,  with  the  result  that  he 
a>in;>;  lied  all  the  other  New  York  papers  to  do  the  same.  When  they  had 
caught  up,  Webb  had  built  for  himself  a  remarkably  fast  clipper-schooner, 
and  again  he  put  his  rivals  to  confusion  by  getting  all  the  news  first.  After 
this  conquest,  he  turned  his  attention  to  Washington,  and  by  a  pony  express 
he  became  enabled  to  scoop  his  rivals  on  Washington  news.  With  this  ad- 
vantage, the  other  papers  were  compelled  to  buy  their  news  from  him.  To 
his  news  service  he  brought  the  same  enterprise  he  manifested  while  plowing 
his  way  across  the  bleak  snow  covered  prairies  of  Illinois. 

As  might  be  surmised,  Webb's  pen  was  quite  as  aggressive  as  his  physical 
person,  as  many  were  reminded  especially,  Thomas  F.  Marshall  with  whom 
he  fought  at  ten  paces,  and  with  pistols.  Marshall's  second  fire  sent  a  bullet 
into  Webb's  knee.  But  that  was  not  all.  A  statute  existed  in  New  York,  for- 
bidding persons  from  leaving  the  state  to  fight  a  duel.  This  statute,  Webb 
ignored,  because  it  always  had  been  treated  as  a  dead  letter,  and  he  went  to 
a  point  near  Wilmington,  in  Delaware,  to  hold  the  meeting.  His  enemies 
procured  his  indictment,  and  under  his  plea  of  guilty  with  a  justification,  he 
was  sentenced  to  two  years  in  the  penitentiary.  A  friendly  governor,  how- 
ever, came  to  the  rescue  and  pardoned  him.  This  sentence  Horace  Greeley 
seized  later,  and  made  excellent  use  of  it  in  replying  to  an  unwarranted  at- 
tack made  upon  him  by  Webb,  in  the  columns  of  his  paper.  Greeley's  caustic 
reply  annihilated  Webb,  and  closed  the  incident  forever. 

At  the  same  time  he  was  a  man  of  strong  friendships,  and  among  those 
friends  he  numbered  no  less  a  person  than  the  Emperor  Louis  Napoleon,  who, 
when  exiled  to  this  country,  found  in  Webb  a  sturdy  and  reliable  friend.  Tin's 
friendship  he  used  to  excellent  advantage  with  Louis  Napoleon,  when  Lincoln 
and  his  cabinet  wanted  to  secure  the  withdrawal  of  French  troops  from 
Mexico.  At  a  breakfast  with  the  Emperor,  Webb  secured  a  pledge,  which  ob- 
viated a  disagreeable  diplomatic  correspondence  and  pursuant  to  the  break- 
fast agreement,  the  troops  were  withdrawn.  Lincoln  always  felt  grateful  to 
Web!)  for  bis  successes  while  minister  to  Brazil,  when  that  monarchy  was 
doing  all  that  it  could  to  help  the  south.  Webb's  conduct  was  so  prompt  a;!  1 
admittedly  so  vigorous,  that  he  stopped  British  activities  there,  and  when  be 
demanded  lbs  passports,  the  Brazilian  government  backed  down  froi 
portion  of  impudence  and  apologized.  Such  a  man  was  Webb,  whose  bio- 
graphy contains  some  most  dramatic  chapters,  particularly  the  Cilly-Graves 
diub  which  Webb  seems  to  have  been  responsible  for,  and  whose  conduct 
presented  some  of  the  rarest  instances  of  patriotism.  The  man  positively 
feared  nothing. 

But  one  other  man  should  have  for  us  an  interest  even  greater  than  our 

[11] 


interest  in  Webb.  (You  must  surely  guess  that  La  Sallier  is  meant.)     First, 
Le  Sellier  ma}  be  the  proper  way  to  spell  it. 

From  the  "Narrative  of  an  Ex;  'ition  to  the  Source  of  St.  Peter's  River, 
(etc.),"  compiled  by  William  H.  Keating,  from  the  notes  of  Major  S.  H.  Long 
and  of  Messrs  Say,  Keating  and  Colhoun,  considerable  light  is  thrown  on  La 
Sallier.  On  June  11,  1823,  (Vol.  1,  p.  175)  when  the  expedition,  then  at  Chi- 
cago, had  decided  to  select  a  route  to  Galena,  rather  than  to  Fort  Armstrong, 
no  person  could  be  found  to  guide  it  along  that  route,  until  "an  old  French 
engage,  of  the  name,  Le  Seller"  undertook  to  direct  it.  "This  man,"  says 
Keating,  "who  had  lived  for  upwards  of  thirty  years  with  the  Indians,  had 
taken  a  wife  among  the  Winnebagoes,  and  settled  on  the  headwaters  of  Rock 
River;  knowing  the  country  as  far  as  that  stream,  he  presumed  that  he  could 
find  his  way  thence  to  Fort  Crawford." 

This  information  tallies  with  the  information  disclosed  in  the  corres- 
pondence between  Robert  Dickson  and  John  Lawe,  found  in  the  11th  volume 
of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Society's  collections,  which  shows  plainly  that 
he  was  found  during  the  war  with  England,  in  1813-14-15,  around  Lake 
Winnebago,  where  Dickson  could  put  his  flog  on  him  at  almost  any  minute 
when  wanted.  And  if  he  had  lived  there  many  years,  it  would  indicate  that  he 
moved  to  the  Grand  Detour  country  after  the  year  1815,  and  if,  when  the 
Long  expedition  went  across  the  state,  he  had  abandoned  the  Lee  county 
residence,  then  the  length  of  his  residence  there  is  conjectural,  unless  there 
were  two  La  Salliers,  which  is  not  true.  He  could  not  have  lived  in  Lee 
county  long  after  the  year  1822  because  John  Dixon  came  to  Dixon  in  1830 
to  live,  and  at  that  time  there  was  no  La  Sallier  there.  And  in  1835,  when 
Joseph  Crawford  surveyed  the  neighborhood,  the  cabin  had  rotted  into  a 
mass  of  sticks  and  mold.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  how,  in  so  short  a  time,  a 
solid  log  cabin  could  push  itself  into  a  state  of  decay,  unless  it  had  burned, 
and  inasmuch  as  the  stones,  now  on  the  mound  where  it  stood,  wear  the  ap- 
pearance of  having  been  subjected  to  fire,  the  cabin  must  have  burned. 

La  Sallier  guided  the  party  safely  until  the  Pektannos  (Pecatonica)  river 
had  been  reached,  a  few  miles  above  its  mouth.  At  this  point  La  Sallier 
infi  rmed  the  party  that  the  Sauks  pronounced  the  diminutive  of  a  word  by  ad- 
ding a  hissing  sound.  La  Sallier  must  have  been  an  observing  man,  and  one 
of  some  information!  At  this  point,  too,  it  became  evident  that  he  had  reach- 
ed the  limit  of  liis  knowledge  of  the  country.  Accordingly,  he  was  sent  ahead 
to  secure  an  Indian  to  act  as  guide  for  the  rest  of  the  journey  to  Prairie  du 
Chien.  The  elder  brother  of  the  chief  of  the  village  to  which  La  Sallier  went, 
a  o  called  Sauk,  v*as  secured.  La  Sallier  explained  his  mission,  and  the 
Indian  .  mo  tly  Winnebagoes,  received  the  party  with  manifestations  of 
fri(  •  '  I  ';-.  The  new  guide's  name  was  Wanehea.  On  page  194  of  the  booh, 
La  '  dited  with  translating  certain  words  uttered  by  a  Winnebago 

into  language;  then  into  French;  then  into  English,  in  order  to  test 

tie  some  of  the  vocabulary    which    Major    Long    had    written 

during  ■    :'«  ran  r  trip.    This  work,  La  Sallier  did  with  surprising  accuracy. 

During  the  remainder  of  the  trip  to  Prairie  du  Chien,  La  Sallier  is  cred- 

[12] 


itcd  with  communicating  much  valuable  information  about  the  Sauks,  useful 
to  any  student  of  ethnology,  (p.  223).  La  Sallier,  too,  expressed  a  singular 
regard  for  the  decencies  of  conversation,  because,  when  listening  to  an  inter- 
pretation of  .some  of  the  things  concerning  squaws,  which  had  been  detailed  in 
a  revolting  manner,  the  old  fellow  blushed;  "which,  with  a  Canadian  trader, 
might  be  supposed  not  to  be  an  easy  thing."  Thus  it  will  be  seen,  by  this 
parting  allusion  to  La  Sallier,  that  at  Grand  Detour,  close  to  which  on  the 
farm  of  Eugene  Harrington,  of  Dixon,  his  cabin  was  located,  he  was  a 
Canadian  trader.  At  Prairie  du  Chien,  in  the  summer  of  1S23,  is  the  last  view, 
written  history  gives  us  of  the  Illinois  activities  of  this  first  settler,  whose 
parting  information  was  to  interpret  Waneba's  discourse  on  the  soul  and  the 
spirit. 

Gurdon  Hubbard,  who  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  1818,  made  a  slight 
reference  to  this  old  trader's  home  near  Grand  Detour  by  saying,  it  was  on 
Rock  River  at  that  time. 

The  letters  from  Robert  Dickson  to  John  Lawe,  in  1813-14-15,  during  our 
second  war  with  England,  and  printed  in  the  10th  and  11th  volumes  of  the 
Wisconsin  Historical  collections,  shed  much  light  on  La  Sallier.  The  position 
of  Dickson  particularly  while  at  Prairie  du  Chien  is  too  well  known  to  need 
comment  and  these  letters  would  indicate  that  La  Sallier  sided  with  Dickson 
and  the  British.  Dickson  uniformly  refers  to  him  as  Mr.  La  Sallier  and  in 
every  instance  he  speaks  well  of  him.  The  statement  in  the  Long  book,  that 
he  had  lived  many  years  at  the  headwaters  of  Rock  River,  would  seem  by 
these  letters  to  be  borne  out. 

On  December  9,  1813,  Dickson  wrote  to  Lawe,  who  was  at  La  Baie :  "I 
will  write  you  tomorrow  by  Mr.  La  Sallier.  Try  to  procure  two  horses  to  go 
to  Millwackee  and  return."  This  would  indicate  that  La  Sallier,  at  that  date 
was  at  Lake  Winnebago,  and  as  letters  then  were  sent  by  messenger,  it 
would  seem  that  La  Sallier  was  to  be  the  messenger  to  carry  the  letter  of  to- 
morrow. The  same  with  December  30,  1813,  because  Dickson  says :  "I  wrote 
you  last  night  by  my  men.  This  will  be  handed  you  by  Mr.  La  Saliers,  who 
goes  to  Millwackee.  You  will  please  deliver  to  him  two  kegs  gunpowder,  50 
lbs  each,  two  bags  ball  and  one  bale  of  carrot  tobacco  a<  I  know  you  will  be 
short  of  that  article.  Endeavor  to  send  him  oft  as  soon  as  possible.  Nothing 
further  occurs  to  me  at  present." 

January  20,  1814,  in  a  letter  carried  by  Thomas  Carron,  or  Old  Tomah,  in 
which  Dickson  expresses  his  needs  repeatedly  and  also  forwards  a  quantity 
of  gossip,  he  says:  "Mr.  La  Saliers  is  an  excellent  hand  at  the  great  guns." 
At  about  this  time  Dickson  complains  of  being  in  a  dangerous  situation  from 
the  Americans  and  the  Indians,  and  so  this  reference  :•    guns  is  expressive. 

On  February  10,  1S14,  Robert  Dickson,  writing  from  Lake  Winnebago  to 
Lieutenant  John  Lawe,  had  this  to  say:  "I  enclose  you  the  letter  I  send 
Chandonnet,  for  your  perusal.  You  will  please  get  CoIUsh  and  lean  Yieux, 
two  brothers-in-law,  to  go  to  Milwaukee  with  the  letter:  and  they  will  pro- 
ceed to  where  Le  Sallier  is  and  bring  him  here.  Trey  must  inform  the 
Indians  that  1  want  Le  Sallier  to  tell  him  the  news  to  carry  back  to  them 

N31 


at  some  lime.  You  will  instruct  the  Indians  to  listen  to  all  that  is  going  on 
where  they  pass,  and  bring  me  a  faithful  report.  These  two  Indians  are  re- 
lated to  La  Farine  and  another  chief  and  they  arc  the  most  fit  to  be  entrusted 
with  the  commission." 

In  a  letter  dated  at  Winnebago  Lake,  February  11,  1S14,  Dickson  wrote 
to  Lawe  at  La  Bave  about  six  Pottowatomies,  who  had  just  arrived  and 
which  he  suspected  of  being  spies;  he  ordered  them  of!  when  they  give  him 
two  letters  conveying  the  information  that  the  Americans  had  captured  all 
the  traders  on  the  south  side  of  Lake  Michigan  and  taken  them  to  Detroit. 
After  saying  that  he  will  detain  them,  he  adds:  "If  no  party  appears  tomor- 
row, I  shall  send  them  (six  Indians)  off  clothed,  on  account  of  their  doing 
mischief  to  Chandonnct.  I  cannot  learn  what  is  become  of  Le  Sallier.  Chan- 
donnet  has  not  seen  him  since  he  came  from  La  Baye." 

On  February  14,  1814,  Dickson  sent  his  letter  by  two  Indians  to  La  Bay, 
where  they  were  going  anyway  to  get  their  axes  mended:  "The  six  Indians 
went  off  yesterday.  I  am  convinced  that  they  were  sent  by  some  one  em- 
ployed by  the  Americans.  I  have  discovered  that  the  Grand  Puant,  a  Poute- 
watamie,  Mr.  Saliers'  friend,  came  here  with  an  intention  of  cutting  us  off, 
but  his  heart  failed  him  when  he  requested  me  that  his  young  men  should 
dance.  Then  I  refused.  He  had  previously  to  his  setting  out  from  his  lodge, 
sent  round  tobacco  to  the  young  people  about  Millwackee  to  come  here  with 
him  to  dance." 

L.  Grignon  writes  to  Dickson,  from  La  Bay,  on  February  28,  1815.  Dick- 
son was  at  Prairie  du  Chien  and  Grignon  comments  on  the  state  of  Avar :  "Mr. 
La  Saliere  has  not  yet  given  us  any  news  more  than  what  I  have  mention- 
ed." 

March  9,  1814,  Dickson  wrote  that :  "Pierre  Le  Claire  arrived  here  two 
days  ago  and  brought  me  a  letter  from  La  Salieres,  of  3rd  inst.  L'  Chan- 
donnct had  left  Millwackee  five  days  prior  to  that  &  must  be  near  La  Baye, 
if  not  arrived." 

One  other  letter  would  indicate  that  La  Sallier  had  been  at  Peoria  and 
it  would  seem  to  contradict  the  possibility  that  the  old  fellow  had  lived 
near  Grand  Detour  for  many  years. 

Prof.  James  D.  Butler,  in  writing  for  the  Wisconsin  Historical  society 

about  the  Four  Lakes  country,  says  of  Le  Sellier,  on  page  72,  volume   10: 

"R<  attractiveness  of  the  Four  Lake  country  to  Frenchmen  long 

I  '  ■        met  with  an  unexpected  fact  which  countenances  my  theory,  that 

Frenchi  de  their  way  tu  this  nook-  of  paradise  at  a    very    early    date. 

e  commencing  tins  paper  I  have  fallen  in  with  the  name  of  one  French- 

lio  was  no  doubt  on  the  Four  Lakes  before  Armel  was  born  and  pos- 

his  home  here.    This  man's  name  was  Le  Sellier,  the  French  for 

old  French  engage,  who  was  enlisted  by  Major  Long  as  a  guide 

in  1  hicago  to  Prairie  du  Chien,  'because  he  had  lived  over  thirty 

Indians,  had  taken  a  Winnebago  wife,  and  settled  on  the  head- 

I       :.    River.'     Le  Sellier's  dwelling  is  as  likely  to  have  been  on 

dota  as  on  Koshkonong — and  that  one  hundred  years  ago.     It  i>  more 

[14] 


than  sixty  years  since  he  served  as  Long's  guide,  and  he  already  had  been  in 
this  country  more  than  thirty  years."  (By  reference  to  a  French  dictionary, 
Sellier  is  pronounced  Sallier,  as  in  "there,"  which  account  .or  spelling  the 
name  Sallier,  perhaps.  It  may  be  added  here,  too,  that  the  statement  made  by 
Dixon,  Illinois,  parties  that  La  Sallier's  daughter  was  Madeline  Ogee,  is  un- 
true.) 

This  statement  about  Lake  Mendota  is  scarcely  tenable,  however,  when 
all  the  authorities  at  present  known,  have  been  examined.  Koshkonong  is 
right. 

In  the  glamour  of  this  history  and  the  traditions  following,  I  have  lived 
for  nearly  seventy  years,  and  so,  when  this  Webb  story  came  to  me  there 
came  with  it  a  tugging  at  my  heart  strings  to  give  it  the  light  of  day,  so  far 
as  I  might,  which  I  did  first  in  1914,  when  I  wrote  for  a  Chicago  publishing 
house,  a  history  of  Lee  County,  Illinois. 

In  repeating  this  plain  and  simple  story  of  Webb's,  you  should  have  it 
just  as  Webb  himself  has  told  it.  To  turn  it  over  to  the  laboratory  of  the 
specialist  to  ask  why,  in  the  first  place,  the  Indian  failed  to  exercise  his  in- 
stinct, rather  than  wait  and  freeze  awhile,  after  his  companions  hadi  .  him, 
Avould  rob  the  story  of  its  vitality.'  History  needs  no  refining  process  or  com- 
mercial veneer.  Webb's  painful  journey  pictures  to  us  topmost  speed  in  the 
plodding  period  of  our  civilization,  and  as  events  disclosed,  that  speed  was 
sufficient  to  head  off  the  Sioux  raid  and  the  probable  massacre  of  Snelling  and 
his  command  to  the  last  man,  woman  and  child. 

In  the  short  cut  methods  of  1924,  we  would  step  to  the  telephone,  get 
Long  Distance,  and  then  Colonel  Snelling,  when  something  like  this  would 
be  said  :  "Hello,  Colonel  Snelling?  This  is  Colonel  McXeil  at  Fort  Dearborn. 
The  Sioux  are  planning  to  murder  your  command.  Look  out.  Yes,  Lil  hold 
the  wire.  So  you  have  the  conspiring  chiefs  in  the  guardhouse?  That's  fine! 
My  compliments."  You  would  get  speed,  but  you  would  lo<e  a  lesson  in  hero- 
ism, worth  all  the  speed  extant.  Perhaps,  too,  in  the  next  102  years  the  tele- 
phone incident  may  prove  just  as  uninteresting  for  its  droning  pace. 

I  became  interested  in  this  story  because  the  La  Sallier  cabin  stood  in  my 
native  county  of  Lee,  and  near  my  native  city  of  Dixon,  where  hovers  the 
nimbus  of  many  a  rare  historic  scene  and  of  many  a  fair  tradition. 

Dixon,  and  its  cross-lots  trail  from  southern  Illinois  to  the  lead  mines. 
killed  the  business  of  the  keel  boat  as  a  means  of  transportation  up  and 
down  the  Mississippi*.  At  Dixon  the  troops  took  their  bearings  while  on  their 
march  northward  to  help  suppress  the  Red  Bird  insurrection  or  Winnebago 
war  of  1827.  Along  the  broad  highway,  marked  by  Oliver  W.  Kellogg  in 
1S27,  Abraham  Lincoln  traveled  while  in  his  first  public  service  in  the  Black 
Hawk  war.    At  Dixon's  Ferry  Lincoln  wrote  his  first  document  <  hcial 

nature.  It  was  a  requisition  for  a  few  muskets  for  Ids  company,  written  on 
the  back  of  an  old  envelope  of  the  times.  At  Dixon,  Jefferson  Davis,  a  second 
lieutenant  in  the  same  service,  enjoyed,  with  his  superior  officer,  Zachary 
Taylor,  his  first  exploit  in  military  affairs — two  presidents  oi  the  United 
States  and  the  president  of  the  southern  confederacy!    A  short  while  there 


after,  Winfield  Scott  came  to  Dixon,  with  his  aid,  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  and 
there  we  have  a  candidate  for  the  presidency  on  the  whig  ticket  and  a  great 
southern  general.  With  Atkinson  came  Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  another  of 
the  great  southern  generals.  O.  H.  Browning,  too,  later  a  secretary  of  the 
Interior.    There  the  career  of  most  of  them  was  begun. 

In  1S79  I  was  permitted  to  visit  the  historic  spots  of  Illinois:  Fort 
Chartres,  Prairie  Du  Rocher,  Cahokia,  Kaskaskia,  then  intact.  I  saw  the 
Morrison  house,  the  Edgar  house  in  which  La  Fayette  was  entertained  in 
1S25,  the*  General  Cox  house,  in  which,  we  are  told,  the  first  constitutional 
convention  was  held;  Fort  Massac;  Shawneetown,  with  all  its  points  of  in- 
terest; Starved  Rock,  and  Ft.  Clark,  but  back  at  Dixon  their  significance  was 
overshadowed  by  the  footprints  of  deeds  begun  by  Lincoln,  whose  fame  can 
be  overshadowed  by  nothing  mortal. 

Of  Dixon's  fame,  Charles  Fenno  Hoffman,  to  whom  Webb  dedicated  his 
story,  has  sung  it  in  his  Winter  in  the  West.  To  it  Mrs.  Kinzie  added  the 
lustre  of  her  Waubun  and  Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli  and  William  Cullen  Bryant, 
and  for  the  privilege  of  adding  my  mite  in  the  story  of  La  Sallier,  full  of 
charm  and  interest  to  me,  but  dull  perhaps  *o  the  reader,  I  am  thankful. 


Note  1 :  In  applying  the  Webb  route  to  present  boundaries,  Blanchard, 
in  his  historical  map,  traced  it  from  Chicago  to  Wheaton ;  thence  dropping  a 
little  to  the  south  to  Batavia ;  thence  westerly  through  De  Kalb  county  about 
three  miles  south  of  De  Kalb;  thence  through  the  northern  part  of  Lee 
county,  about  two  or  three  miles  below  the  north  boundary  to  La  Sallicr's ; 
thence  westerly  about  three  miles  north  of  Dixon  to  Fulton,  and  thence  down 
the  river  to  Ft.  Armstrong. 

Note  2:  It  has  been  said,  by  some  authorities,  that  WTebb's  Washington 
pony  express  service  cost  him  $7,500  a  month.  Horses  were  changed  every 
six  miles. 

Note  3:  In  various  books  the  names  of  post  commandants  have  been 
given  otherwise,  and  so,  to  establish  the  truthfulness  of  my  statements,  a  let- 
ter from  the  War  office  is  attached: 

'"The  records  of  this  office  show  that  in  February,  1822,  the  commanding 
officer  of  Fort  Dearborn,  Illinois,  was  Brevet  Colonel  John  McNeil,  3rd  In- 
fantry, and  that  the  garrison  consisted  of  9  officers  and  91  enlisted  men;  and 
th<    commanding  officer  of  Fort  Armstrong,  Illinois,  was  Brevet  Major 

-an  Burbank,  5th  Infantry,  and  the  garrison  consisted  of  6  officers  and 
51  enlisted  men. 

"Th<  st   record  in  this  office  of  Fort  St.  Anthony,   which,  in   1825, 

Fort  Snelling,  Minnesota,  is  August,  1822.  The  commanding  officer 

i(t  t]  Colonel  Jo  nelling,  5th  Infantry,  and  the  garrison  con- 

isted  of  10  and  274  <  ili  ;t<  d  men.    It  appears  that  this  post  was  oc- 

1-9    i  '.  S.  troop,,  continuously  from  1822    to   present    date,    with    the 

exception  of  the  period  of  1858  to  1866." 

[16] 


Stockton,  Calif. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


coin 


SS  WEBB'S  TR.P  ACROSS  .UIN0.I 


